Viva Mexico!

Did you know that Cinco de Mayo is not really that important here. Yes, it is part of the history of Mexico in that the Mexicans defeated the french in a battle in Puebla. It is really only celebrated there and no where else in Mexico. I guess Americans just wanted another excuse to drink . . . but really it is a celebration for the Mexican heritage/population that is now in the US!

Mexico's independence day is actually the 15th of September!! They celebrate from the night of the 15th through the 16th! And this year is really special because it is the bicentennial of Mexico. It has been fun being here for it because people go all out here like they do in the US. When September came around everyone brought out there flags and hung red, white, and green streamers and such. Plus on ever corner you can see a stand selling flags and stuff which is shown below. There are fireworks and all the churches ring there bells. Everyone from town gets together in the center of town and just celebrates and enjoys each other. At the schools they dress up in clothes of the time period of the day of independence and other types of traditional Mexican clothes.

Unlike the US where we celebrate on the day when they signed the declaration of independence, Mexicans celebrate the day a priest demanded independence from Spain. In the night of the 15th Miguel Hidalgo, a priest, sent his brother with other armed men to release the pro-independence inmates from jail. They ended up freeing 80 men. The next morning Hidalgo order the church bells to be rung and the people to congregate at the church. There he gave a famous independence speech to revolt against Spain called the "grito" which is now recited every independence day. This initiated the Mexican-Spanish war. The declaration of independence was not signed until September 27, 1821 . . . 10 years after the start of the war.

Of course, I was not around for most of the celebration because I was coming back from a well. I had spent 4 days at this well with not much sleep and a lot of problems! I pretty much slept only 2 hours in 36 which is probable a first for me! Again I was really stinky and ready to get back to sleep and take a shower so I missed out on the craziness that was outside my room. Below is the picture of the rig I worked at. We were doing a fishing job trying to get 100 meters of cable out of the well . . . unforunately we were not able to do so, oh well!

Just a tidbit of Mexican history for everyone!